After  D  EATH 

- What  ? 

HEAVEN,  PURGATORY,  HELL 

(With  discussion  Club  Outline) 


<By 

Rev.  Gerald  C.  Treacy,  S.J. 


THE  PAULIST  PRESS 
401  West  59th  Street 
New  York  19,  N.  Y. 


A 


AFTER  DEATH-WHAT? 

By  Rev.  Gerald  C.  Treacy,  SJ. 


HEAVEN 


TT’EAVEN,  Hell  and  Purgatory  make  up  the  Othei 
World.  They  are  real.  An  infallible  Church  teaches 
us  this.  We  Catholics  for  that  reason  believe  it.  We  can¬ 
not  be  Catholics  and  believe  otherwise.  Sometimes  we 
hear  a  person  say :  “God  is  too  merciful.  There  cannot 
be  a  Hell."  But  no  one  ever  says:  “God  is  too  just. 
There  cannot  be  a  Heaven.  No  one  could  possibly  de¬ 
serve  it."  Yet  it  is  as  reasonable  to  say  there  cannot  be  a 
Heaven  as  that  there  cannot  be  a  Hell.  It  is  unrea¬ 
sonable  to  make  either  statement  for  God  has  assured 
us  that  there  is  everlasting  happiness  for  those  who  die 
in  His  friendship,  and  everlasting  suffering  for  those 
who  die  at  enmity  with  Him.  We  may  not  like  the  idea. 
But  that  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  fact  that  the  Other 
World  has  two  eternal  divisions,  and  one  temporary  that 
will  cease  when  time  ceases.  God  has  said  so.  His  Church 
repeats  His  statement  and  calls  it  a  dogma  of  Faith,  and 
we  either  accept  these  facts  or  cease  to  be  Catholics. 

When  we  speak  about  Heaven  we  mean  a  state  and  a 
place ;  the  state  of  eternal  blessedness  and  the  place  where 
God  dwells  with  His  angels  and  His  saints.  For  everyone 
who  reaches  Heaven  is  a  saint. 

In  Holy  Scripture  our  Lord  speaks  of  the  Kingdom 
of  Heaven.  Time  and  time  again  He  tells  us  what  it  is 
like.  He  urges  His  followers  to  keep  it  in  mind  when  dif¬ 
ficulties  and  disappointments  come  into  their  lives.  He 
makes  it  clear  that  there  is  the  abiding  city  as  Saint  Paul 
called  it,  and  everything  in  this  life  leads  thereto.  Any 
careful  reader  of  the  Gospel  narrative,  no  matter  what  his 
belief,  will  conclude  that  there  is  a  sequel  to  the  Kingdom 


1 


2 


AFTER  DEATH— WHAT? 


Christ  preached  upon  earth,  and  that  is  His  Kingdom  in 
Heaven. 

Not  only  Catholics  but  all  sensible  people  who  believe 
in  the  immortality  of  the  soul  believe  in  Heaven.  They 
believe  in  it  because  it  is  reasonable  to  believe  in  it.  They 
know  for  example  that  God  made  all  things  for  His  honor 
and  glory.  Every  creature  is  to  contribute  to  that  honor 
and  glory  by  reflecting  God’s  perfections  as  far  as  each 
creature  is  capable  of  doing  so.  Man  is  capable  of  glorify¬ 
ing  God  in  a  most  perfect  manner  by  knowing,  loving,  and 
imitating  God’s  infinite  perfections.  He  is  created  for 
this.  To  know  and  love  God  always  is  the  greatest  thing 
that  the  human  mind  can  do.  Moreover  this  is  its  su¬ 
preme  happiness.  Man  is  created  for  this  eternal  happi¬ 
ness.  And  that  is  what  Heaven  means. 

Heaven  moreover  is  the  reward  of  a  good  life  on  earth. 
Our  Lord  says  that  it  is.  One  day  in  the  long  ago  He  was 
speaking  on  charity,  and  He  told  His  listeners  that  they 
must  show  practical  love  for  their  fellow-men  not  because 
they  were  men  but  because  they  were  children  of  God. 
For  when  you  help  a  man  who  is  down  because  he  is  a 
man  you  are  a  humanitarian,  but  when  you  help  a  man  be¬ 
cause  he  is  a  brother  oif  Christ  and  a  son  of  the  Eternal 
Father  you  are  charitable.  In  that  instance  you  really 
help  Christ,  strange  as  it  may  seem.  At  the  end  of  the 
world,  Christ  said,  many  people  will  be  puzzled  by  this 
for  they  will  ask:  *‘Lord  when  did  we  see  You  hungry, 
and  thirsty,  sick  and  in  prison?”  And  they  will  get  for 
their  answer:  “You  did  not  see  Me  in  need  of  help  but 
you  did  see  men  in  need  and  you  helped  them  for  My 
sake;  so  your  reward  will  be  everlasting.”  Heaven  is  the 
reward  for  good  done  on  earth  according  to  Christ’s  teach¬ 
ing.  As  we  are  His  creatures  and  have  nothing  but  what 


HEAVEN 


3 


He  gave  us  we  have  no  claim. on  Heaven.  But  in  His 
infinite  love  and  mercy  He  gives  us  a  claim.  This  is  what 
He  says  and  so  we  believe  Him  whose  Word  cannot  fail. 

Where  Is  Heaven? 

There  are  many  opinions  to  answer  this  question  yet 
the  truest  answer  is  that  we  do  not  know  where  Heaven 
is.  Holy  Scripture  tells  us  little  about  it,  our  Lord  never 
said  where  it  was,  and  the  Churc'h  has  given  no  decision 
in  the  matter.  The  chief  thing  to  remember  is  that 
Heaven  is  happiness,  a  condition  of  soul,  and  its  location 
could  be  anywhere  God  chose.  God  being  everywhere  is 
present  to  all  souls.  He  is  the  object  of  the  contempla¬ 
tion  of  the  souls  now  in  Heaven  and  the  possession  of 
their  love.  They  are  without  their  bodies.  After  the 
General  Judgment,  souls  and  bodies  will  be  united  and  so 
the  Blessed  will  be  with  God  in  some  place. 

Saint  John  wrote  of  Heaven  in  this  way:  “I  saw  a  new 
heaven  and  a  new  earth;  for  the  first  heaven  and  the 
first  earth  were  gone,  and  the  sea  is  no  more.  And  I  saw 
the  holy  city,  the  new  Jerusalem  coming  down  out  of 
heaven  from  God,  prepared  as  a  bride  adorned  for  her 
husband.  And  I  heard  a  great  voice  from  the  throne  say¬ 
ing,  ‘Behold  the  tabernacle  of  God  with  men,  and  He 
will  dwell  with  them ;  and  they  shall  be  His  people,  and 
God  Himself  with  them  shall  be  their  God’  ”  (Apoc.  21, 
1-3).  ITie  passing  of  the  Blessed  from  their  present  state 
of  happiness  to  perfect  Glory  will  begin  on  the  Last  Day. 
After  the  body  has  received  its  share  of  eternal  reward 
the  whole  man  will  be  completely  happy.  It  would  seem 
from  Saint  John’s  vision  that  the  earth  will  be  the  place 
where  the  Church  Triumphant  will  reign.  It  will  be  a 
“new  earth.’’  It  will  be  the  place  where  those  enjoying  the 


4 


AFTER  DEATH— WHAT' 


Beatific  Vision  will  dwell.,  Otir  present  earth  will  be  re¬ 
newed,  purified,  not  destroyed  by  fire.  The  Fathers  of 
the  Church  refer  to  Holy  Scripture  in  supporting  their 
belief  in  the  renewal  of  this  world. 

Saint  Cyril  of  Jerusalem  says  that  God  will  “remove 
the  heavens  not  to  destroy  them  but  to  restore  them  in 
more  beautiful  form.”  Saint  Gregory  Nazianzen  when 
preaching  on  the  occasion  of  his  brother’s  death  declared : 
“I  await  the  archangel’s  call,  the  last  trumpet  blast,  the 
transformation  of  heaven  and  earth,  the  dissolution  of 
the  elements  and  the  renewal  of  the  whole  world.”  The 
transformation  will  take  place  by  means  of  fire.  With  fire 
the  Lord  will  come  to  judge  the  world;  “Behold  the  Lord 
will  come  with  fire”  (Isaias  66,  15).  “His  throne  like 
flames  of  fire”  (Daniel  7,  9).  “The  Lord  Jesus  shall  be 
revealed  from  heaven  with  the  angels  of  his  power  in  a 
flame  of  fire”  (2  Thess.  1,  7).  “The  day  of  the  Lord 
shall  declare  it  because  it  shall  be  revealed  in  fire”  ( 1  Cor. 
3,  13).  In  regard  to  the  transformation  of  the  world 
Saint  Peter  in  his  second  letter  is  quite  clear. 

He  was  warning  his  followers  against  “deceitful  scof¬ 
fers,  walking  after  their  own  lusts,  saying:  'Where  is 
His  promise  of  His  coming?  For  since  the  time  that  the 
fathers  slept,  all  things  continue  as  they  were  from  the 
beginning  of  the  creation.’  ”  Heretics  who  denied  the 
second  coming  of  Christ  because  nature  remained  un¬ 
changing  were  reminded  by  Saint  Peter  of  the  deluge  in 
the  time  of  Noe:  “This  they  are  wilfully  ignorant  of,  that 
the  heavens  were  before,  and  the  earth  out  of  water  and 
through  water,  consisting  by  the  word  of  God  whereby 
the  world  that  then  was,  being  overflowed  with  water 
perished.”  The  outward  form  of  the  earth  was  destroyed 
at  the  Deluge.  So  will  the  fire  at  the  end  of  the  world 


HEAVEN 


5 


change  its  present  condition  and  not  destroy  it  utterly : 
“But  the  heavens  and  the  earth  which  are  now,  by  the 
same  word  are  kept  in  store,  reserved  unto  fire  against 
the  day  of  judgment  and  perdition  of  the  ungodly  men." 
And  continuing:  “But  the  day  of  the  Lord  shall  come  as  a 
thief,  in  which  the  heavens  shall  pass  away  with  great 
violence,  and  the  elements  shall  be  melted  with  heat  and 
the  earth  and  the  works  w'hich  are  in  it  shall  be  burned 
up.  Seeing  then  all  these  things  are  to  be  dissolved,  what 
manner  of  people  ought  you  to  be  in  holy  conversation 
and  godliness?  Looking  for  and  hasting  unto  the  coming 
of  the  day  of  the  Lord  by  which  the  heavens  being  on 
fire  shall  be  dissolved  and  the  elements  shall  melt  with 
the  burning  heat?  But  we  look  for  new  heavens  and  a 
new  earth  according  to  His  promise  in  which  justice 
dwelleth”  (2  Peter  3,  10-13). 

This  is  the  Apostle’s  account  of  the  coming  of  the 
Lord  by  fire.  As  to  the  meaning  of  “heaven”  in  this 
passage  commentators  are  divided.  Saint  Ambrose  and 
Saint  Jerome  think  that  all  the  stars  will  be  affected  by  the 
general  catastrophe  but  Saint  Augustine  and  Saint  Thomas 
limit  it  to  our  planet.  Of  course  the  “elements”  men¬ 
tioned  by  Saint  Peter  are  not  those  which  modern  chemis¬ 
try  knows  by  that  name,  but  those  knpwn  to  the  ancients 
namely  air,  fire,  earth,  water.  Air  is  mentioned  as  the 
heavens,  fire  as  the  consuming  agent,  so  earth  and  water 
are  the  “elements.”  When  the  fire  of  the  Last  Day  comes 
our  earth  will  be  a  shapeless,  glowing  mass,  out  of  which 
God  will  call  forth  the  new  heaven  and  the  new  earth. 

It  is  of  interest  to  remember  that  the  ancient  pagan  na¬ 
tions  believed  that  the  world  would  be  renewed  by  fire. 
This  belief  was  undoubtedly  a  survival  of  primitive  revela¬ 
tion  which  filtered  into  paganism.  The  great  last  fire  is 


6 


AFTER  DEATH— WHAT? 


deemed  necessary  before  the  coming  of  the  Golden  Age 
and  is  connected  with  the  advent  of  the  Great  King. 
Legends  on  this  point  are  found  among  the  Egyptians, 
Chaldeans,  Persians,  Indians,  Chinese,  Greeks  and  Ro¬ 
mans. 

Though  varying  greatly  they  bear  a  marked  resem¬ 
blance  to  Christian  tradition.  The  great  fire  is  sometimes 
described  as  recurring  at  the  end  of  each  world-epoch,  but 
all  agree  in  connecting  it  with  the  General  Judgment  which 
is  to  mark  the  victory  of  good  gods  over  evil  spirits.  The 
Sibylline  Books,  a  collection  of  legends  and  prophecies, 
contain  the  story  of  the  destruction  and  renewal  of  the 
world.  The  same  idea  is  found  in  the  Orphic  poems.  The 
Greek  sages  too,  Pythagoras,  Heraclitus,  Socrates,  as  well 
as  the  Stoics,  discussed  the  future  fire  when  speculating 
about  the  end  of  the  world. 

What  will  the  new  earth  be  like  when  this  world  ends  ? 
We  do  not  know.  It  is  to  be  the  home  of  the  Blessed  and 
surely  for  that  reason  exceedingly  beautiful.  As  the  body 
will  share  in  the  glory  of  the  soul  so  will  this  earth  partake 
in  the  glory  of  the  risen  body.  It  will  be  spiritualized  and 
refined.  The  vision  of  Isaias  was :  “The  light  of  the  moon 
shall  be  as  the  light  of  the  sun,  and  the  light  of  the  sun 
shall  be  sevenfold, .as  the  light  of  seven  days”  (Isaias,  30, 
26).  And  Saint  John  speaking  of  the  “new  heaven  and 
the  new  earth”  declared:  “And  there  came  one  of  the 
seven  angels  .  .  .  And  he  took  me  up  in  spirit  to  a  great 
and  high  mountain  and  he  showed  me  the  holy  city  Jeru¬ 
salem  coming  down  out  of  heaven  from  God.  Having 
the  glory  of  God,  and  the  light  thereof  was  like  to  a 
precious  stone,  as  to  the  jasper  stone,  even  as  crystal.  .  .  . 
And  the  city  hath  no  need  of  the  sun  nor  of  the  moon  to 
shine  in  k.  For  the  glory  of  God  hath  enlightened  it  and 


HEAVEN 


7 


the  Lamb  is  the  lamp  thereof.  And  the  nations  shall  walk 
in  the  light  of  it.  .  .  .  There  shall  not  enter  into  it  anything 
defiled  or  that  worketh  abomination  or  maketh  a  lie  but 
they  that  are  written  in  the  book  of  life  of  the  Lamb” 
(Apoc.  21,  10-27). 

The  Beatific  Vision 

When  Saint  Paul  wished  to  make  clear  the  happiness 
of  Heaven  he  spoke  about  seeing  God  “face  to  face.” 
“Now  we  see  in  a  mirror  obscurely  but  then  (we  shall 
see)  face  to  face.  Now  I  know  in  part,  then  shall  I  know 
fully  even  as  I  have  been  fully  known  (by  God)”  (1  Cor. 
13,  12).  This  is  the  happiness  of  Heaven.  It  is  called 
the  Beatific  Vision.  God  penetrates  the  soul  and  the  soul 
sees  God  and  is  happy  eternally.  Here  in  this  life  we  get 
our  knowledge  of  God  indirectly  through  creatures.  By 
reason  we  rise  from  the  creature  to  the  Creator.  In 
Heaven,  however,  we  shall  see  God  directly.  There  will 
be  no  creature  between  God  and  the  soul  for  by  immediate 
intuition  the  soul  will  see  God.  This  is  a  dogma  of  our 
Faith  defined  by  Pope  Benedict  the  Twelfth : 

“We  define  that  the  souls  of  all  the  saints  in  Heaven 
have  seen  and  do  see  the  Divine  Essence  by  direct  in¬ 
tuition  and  face  to  face  in  such  wise  that  nothing  created 
intervenes  as  an  object  of  Vision,  but  the  Divine  Essence 
presents  itself  to  their  immediate  gaze,  unveiled,  clearly, 
and  openly;  moreover  that  in  this  vision  and  this  enjoy¬ 
ment  they  are  truly  blessed  and  possess  eternal  life  and 
eternal  rest.” 

It  is  of  Faith  also  that  the  Beatific  Vision  is  super¬ 
natural  and  transcends  the  powers  of  created  natures.  It 
is  not  difficult  to  understand  why  this  should  be  if  we  re¬ 
member  the  supernatural  character  of  sanctifying  grace. 


8 


AFTER  DEATH— WHAT? 


This  grace  we  know  is  the  preparation  for  the  vision  of 
God.  If  the  preparation  for  that  vision  is  supernatural, 
it  is  clear  that  the  vision  itself  must  be  supernatural. 

The  immediate  knowledge  of  God  is  a  free  gift  of  Di¬ 
vine  bounty.  Now  to  see  God  in  this  way  the  soul  needs 
some  permanent  supernatural  strength.  This  is  called  the 
“light  of  glory.”  It  is  called  the  light  of  glory  for  it  en¬ 
ables  the  blessed  to  see  God  with  their  intellects  just  as 
light  here  on  earth  enables  our  eyes  to  see  objects. 
Through  the  light  of  glory  the  blessed  see  God  as  He  is, 
and  then  they  see  everything  else  that  interests  them. 
Theologians  call  God  the  primary  object  of  the  Beatific 
Vision  and  everything  else  secondary  objects.  The  Coun¬ 
cil  of  Vienne  in  1311  defined  the  light  of  glory. 

God  gives  Himself  entirely  to  the  blessed.  As  Saint 
Thomas  explains  it:  **Electi  Dominum  vident  totum  sed 
not  totaliter”  The  soul  is  finite.  In  seeing  God  it  pos¬ 
sesses  an  infinite  good,  but  in  a  finite  manner  and  propor¬ 
tionate  to  its  merits.  No  two  souls  in  Heaven  see  God 
in  the  same  way.  The  Blessed  Mother  for  example  enjoys 
the  sight  of  God  in  a  much  higher  way  than  the  last  soul 
entering  there  having  received  the  grace  of  final  repentance 
after  a  long  life  of  sin.  Yet  both  are  supremely  happy. 

God  cannot  be  comprehended  by  a  finite  mind,  but  God 
can  be  reached  by  a  finite  mind.  As  Saint  Thomas  says : 

“Comprehension  is  twofold;  in  one  sense  it  is  taken 
strictly  and  properly  as  when  a  being  is  entirely  included  in 
the  one  that  comprehends  it.  In  this  sense  God  cannot  be 
comprehended  by  any  created  intellect,  whether  angelic  or 
human,  for  the  simple  reason  that  an  infinite  being  cannot 
be  comprised  in  a  finite  one.  In  another  sense  compre¬ 
hension  is  taken  more  largely  and  it  means  that  the  object 
aimed  at  is  actually  reached  or  attained.  In  this  sense  God 


HEAVEN 


9 


is  comprehended  by  the  Blessed  and  comprehension  be¬ 
comes  for  them  the  full  realization  of  their  hopes”  (The 
Summa  Theologica,  Part  1,  Question  12,  Article  7).  The 
Beatific  Vision  is  a  mystery,  that  is  it  transcends  reason, 
and  if  the  Church  did  not  tell  us  about  it  we  would  not 
know  it  of  ourselves.  This  Vision  of  God  is  Heaven. 
How  to  understand  this!  In  “The  City  of  God”  Saint 
Augustine  reminds  us  that  “we  are  incapable  of  speaking 
in  a  befitting  manner  of  this  vision,  yet  we  cannot  be  al¬ 
together  silent  about  it.”  It  means  seeing  God’s  infinite 
perfections.  The  Blessed  through  this  vision  see  in  God 
all  the  mysteries  of  their  Faith,  the  wonders  of  creation 
and  all  the  events  of  the  human  race  from  its  beginning 
to  its  end.  This  knowledge  Saint  Thomas  holds  will  be 
more  profound  than  any  knowledge  acquired  by  the  most 
learned  men  upon  earth.  This  knowledge  means  knowing 
God  not  only  in  Himself  but  in  relation  to  all  existing 
and  possible  creatures.  For  God  is  the  cause  of  His 
creatures  in  three  ways.  He  is  their  Exemplar  or  the 
model  according  to  which  they  are  made.  He  is  their 
Maker  giving  them  everything  both  in  nature  and  in  grace, 
and  He  is  their  End  towards  which  they  all  tend.  In  all 
these  relations  the  Blessed  understand  God  for  in  under¬ 
standing  the  Divine  Essence  they  understand  the  Divine 
Ideas.  In  Heaven  the  souls  of  the  Blessed  increase  their 
admiration,  love  and  praise  in  proportion  to  the  increase 
of  their  knowledge.  That  is,  the  external  glory  of  God 
goes  on  apace  through  eternity. 

Theologians  in  speaking  of  the  happiness  of  Heaven 
mention  the  '*dotes  heatorum,’*  the  dowry  of  the  Blessed. 
By  this  is  meant  the  supernatural  endowments  of  the  soul 
in  the  beatific  state.  Remembering  the  allegorical  mean¬ 
ing  of  the  mystic  marriage  of  the  soul  with  Christ  it  is  not 


10 


AFTER  DEATH— WHAT? 


difficult  to  understand  the  dowry  of  the  Blessed.  A  dowry 
is  a  gift  that  precedes  marriage.  So  the  dowry  given  by 
Christ  to  His  mystic  spouse  is  a  habit  which  precedes  the 
Beatific  Vision  and  makes  it  more  enjoyable.  This  dowry 
consists  of  gifts  of  soul  and  body.  The  dowry  of  the  soul 
consists  of  the  three  gifts  of  contemplation,  possession  and 
enjoyment.  Contemplation  corresponds  to  faith,  posses¬ 
sion  to  hope,  enjoyment  to  charity.  All  blend  in  the  light 
of  glory  which  banishes  the  darkness  of  Faith,  makes  sure 
of  the  possession  of  God  and  guarantees  the  enjoyment 
of  His  love.  The  Latin  words  used  to  name  these  gifts 
are  *'visxo”  ''comprehension  "fruitio.” 

The  bodily  gifts  that  belong  to  the  dowry  of  the 
Blessed  are  impassibility,  brightness,  agility  and  subtility. 
Discomfort,  pain  and  death  are  banned  by  the  gift  of  im¬ 
passibility.  “This  mortal  body,”  says  Saint  Paul,  “must 
needs  put  on  incorruption”  (1  Cor.  15,  53).  And  Saint 
John  assures  us:  “God  will  wipe  away  every  tear  from 
their  eyes,  and  death  shall  be  no  more,  neither  shall  mourn¬ 
ing  nor  crying  nor  pain  be  any  more,  because  the  first 
things  are  passed  away”  (Apoc.  21,  4). 

The  gift  of  brightness  as  our  Lord  tells  us  will  make 
the  Blessed  “shine  as  the  sun.”  And  Saint  Paul  speaks 
of  this  gift  in  telling  us  that  God,  our  Saviour,  will  “trans¬ 
form  the  body  of  our  lowliness,  that  it  may  be  one  with 
the  body  of  His  glory,  by  the  force  of  that  power  whereby 
He  is  able  to  subject  all  things  to  Himself”  (Phil.  3,  21). 
And  in  his  first  letter  to  th^  Corinthians  he  says :  “The 
glory  of  the  heavenly  is  different  from  that  of  the  earthly. 
There  is  the  glory  of  the  sun  and  the  glory  of  the  moon  and 
the  glory  of  the  stars ;  for  star  differeth  from  star  in  glory. 
And  so  it  is  with  the  resurrection  of  the  dead”  (1  Cor.  15, 
40-42).  And  Saint  Thomas  declares  that  “the  glory  of 


HEAVEN 


11 


the  soul  shall  be  perceptible  in  the  glorified  body,  as  the 
color  of  a  body  enclosed  in  a  glass  receptacle  is  visible 
through  the  glass.”  (Supplement  of  the  Summa,  Ques¬ 
tion  82,  Article  1,  ad  5.) 

The  Body  of  our  Lord  after  His  resurrection  was  not 
bound  by  space.  This  gift  which  the  bodies  of  the  Blessed 
will  enjoy  is  called  agility,  enabling  them  to  move  from 
place  to  place  speedily  and  with  ease.  Subtility  which  is 
the  last  bodily  gift  belonging  to  the  soul’s  dowry,  enables 
the  body  to  enjoy  the  higher  life  of  the  soul.  For  the  soul 
is  so  filled  with  grace  that  it  raises  the  body  to  its  own 
level.  The  body  becomes  completely  subject  to  the  soul, 
conflict  is  at  an  end  and  the  body  may  really  be  said  to  be 
almost  spiritualized. 

Freedom  From  Sin 

Another  source  of  Heaven’s  happiness  is  freedom  from 
sin.  The  Blessed  not  only  do  not  sin  but  they  cannot. 
And  strange  as  it  may  seem  this  grace  is  compatible  with 
perfect  liberty.  For  liberty  means  freedom  to  do  w^hat 
is  befitting  the  nature  of  the  doer.  To  be  free  to  do  evil 
here  on  earth  is  only  noteworthy  because  the  soul  is  at  the 
same  time  free  to  avoid  evil.  As  sin  is  an  evil  it  is  against 
the  soul’s  best  interests.  But  nothing  in  Heaven  can  be 
against  the  soul’s  best  interests.  So  the  soul  cannot  sin 
in  Heaven.  Moreover  sin  is  the  abuse  of  liberty.  It  is  a 
defect,  an  imperfection.  Now  divine  grace  improves 
nature  to  the  extent  of  removing  any  imperfections.  So 
the  presence  of  grace  in  the  souls  of  the  Elect  makes  sin 
impossible.  Their  souls  are  confirmed  in  grace. 

Grace  as  we  know  affects  the  intellect  and  the  will.  It 
enlightens  the  intellect.  That  is  it  makes  it  understand 
things  so  well  that  error  is  impossible  for  the  soul  in 


12 


AFTER  DEATH— WHAT? 


Heaven.  Sin  of  course  is  error.  It  is  mixing  things  up. 
It  is  mistaking  black  for  white,  darkness  for  light.  But 
the  soul  confirmed  in  grace  cannot  make  such  a  mistake. 
It  cannot  say  of  evil :  “This  is  good.”  It  can  do  this  in 
mortal  life  but  not  in  life  immortal.  In  fact  it  always 
does  this  on  earth.  No  soul  grasps  after  evil  because  it 
is  evil.  It  thinks  it  sees  some  good  in  it.  And  it  rushes 
for  the  good.  But  in  Heaven  this  cannot  be  so.  For  the 
soul  is  all-knowing  there.  It  has  Truth  as  it  has  God, 
and  all  little  truths  fit  in  with  the  Big  Truth.  So  it  really 
knows,  and  the  soul  that  really  knows  cannot  sin. 

The  True  and  the  Good  satisfy  the  intellect  and  the 
will.  For  these  faculties  of  the  soul  were  made  to  be  so 
satisfied.  Now  in  Heaven  God  is  Truth  and  Good  and 
the  soul  rests  in  God.  Sin  then  is  impossible  for  it.  It 
is  so  truly  free  that  it  cannot  choose  evil. 

Everlasting  Happiness 

“The  just  shall  go  into  everlasting  bliss”  (Matthew  25, 
46),  said  our  Lord  making  it  very  clear  that  the  happiness 
of  Heaven  is  everlasting.  Moreover  the  Church  has  re¬ 
peatedly  defined  it,  and  Catholics  profess  this  belief  every 
time  they  say  the  Apostles’  Creed.  As  a  plain  matter 
of  common  sense  it  is  difficult  to  imagine  a  temporary 
Heaven,  for  if  the  souls  in  Heaven  knew  that  their  bliss 
would  end,  this  knowledge  alone  would  prevent  their  hap¬ 
piness  from  being  perfect.  Inject  the  temporal  or  tempor¬ 
ary  and  you  destroy  the  idea  of  complete  happiness.  The 
Psalmist  exclaims:  “Blessed  are  they  that  dwell  in  Thy 
house  O  Lord;  they  shall  praise  Thee  forever  and  ever” 
(Psalm  83,  5).  And  the  author  of  the  Book  of  Wisdom 
declares:  “The  Just  shall  live  for  everymore :  and  their 
reward  with  the  Lord”  ("Wisdom  5.  16). 


HEAVEN 


13 


The  eternity  of  Heaven  is  an  article  of  Faith  definea 
by  Pope  Benedict  the  Twelfth,  in  1336.  He  was  speaking 
of  the  Vision  of  God  in  the  Bull  “Benedictus 

“This  same  vision  and  fruition  .  .  .  continues  and  will 
continue  tiU  the  final  judgment,  and  thenceforward  for¬ 
ever.” 

Holy  Scripture  again  and  again  uses  figurative  lan¬ 
guage  of  rare  beauty  to  express  the  eternity  of  Heaven. 
For  Heaven  is  compared  to  “a  treasure  which  fails  not, 
which  no  thief  approaches,  nor  moth  corrupts.”  It  is  a 
series  of  “everlasting  dwellings.”  It  is  “a  never  fading 
crown  of  glory,”  an  “everlasting  kingdom,”  “eternal  life.” 
The  Fathers  of  the  Church  teach  the  doctrine  of  everlast¬ 
ing  glory.  Saint  Augustine  appositely  remarks  that 
Heaven  must  be  everlasting  as  no  happiness  would  be 
perfect  if  it  were  overshadowed  by  the  fear  of  possible 
loss.  And  Saint  Thomas  says  that  Heaven  would  not  be 
Heaven  if  it  did  not  last  forever. 

Degrees  of  Happiness 

Are  all  the  souls  of  the  Blessed  happy  in  the  same  de¬ 
gree?  They  are  not.  It  is  an  article  of  Faith  that  there 
are  various  degrees  of  happiness.  In  the  Decretum 
Unionis  of  Florence  the  Church  has  declared:  “One  is 
more  perfect  than  the  other  according  to  the  different 
merits  of  each.”  Our  blessed  Saviour  infers  the  varying 
degrees  of  happiness  when  He  tells  us :  “In  My  Father’s 
House  there  are  many  mansions.”  And  Saint  Paul  as¬ 
sures  us :  “Each  shall  receive  his  own  reward  according  to 
his  own  toil.”  .  .  .  “He  who  soweth  sparingly  shall  also 
reap  sparingly  and  he  who  soweth  in  blessings  shall  also 
reap  blessings.”  The  Fathers  are  as  one  in  insisting  that 
there  are  degrees  of  happiness.  Saint  Jerome  for  ex- 


14 


AFTER  DEATH— WHAT? 


ample  argues  on  the  justice  of  the  diversity  of  reward 
against  Jovinian :  “If  the  easier  works  of  piety  are  equally 
meritorious  with  the  constancy  of  the  martyrs  it  is  vain 

to  strive  for  perfection”  (Contra  Jovinium  2,  34).  And 
Saint  Augustine  meets  the  objection  that  jealousy  would 
eventuate  because  of  the  inequality  of  reward  by  declar¬ 
ing:  “There  will  be  no  envy  on  account  of  unequal  glory 
because  one  love  will  govern  all.”  Saint  Thomas  explains 
the  inequality  by  the  difference  in  intensity  of  each  soul’s 
love  for  God :  “That  intellect  which  has  more  of  the  light 
of  glory  will  see  God  the  more  perfectly ;  and  he  will  have 
a  fuller  participation  of  the  light  of  glory  who  has  more 
of  charity,  because  where  there  is  greater  charity  there  is 
a  more  ardent  desire;  .  .  .  hence  he  who  possesses  the 
greater  charity  will  see  God  the  more  perfectly”  (Summa 
Theologica,  la,  Question  12,  Article  6). 

From  the  inequality  of  heavenly  glory  the  Scholas¬ 
tics  have  developed  the  doctrine  of  the  “aureolae,”  that  is 
special  marks  of  distinction  in  the  souls  of  those  who 
have  achieved  victory  over  the  world,  the  flesh  and  the 
devil.  These  marks  are  real  and  are  special  joys  for  spe¬ 
cial  victories  during  life  on  earth.  The  victory  of  the 
virgin  is  a  special  triumph  over  the  flesh,  the  victory  of  the 
martyr  is  a  special  conquest  of  the  world,  the  victory  of 
the  doctor  is  a  special  victory  over  Satan  who  is  the  father 
of  lies. 

Saint  John  in  his  Apocalypse  in  struggling  to  express 
the  happiness  of  Heaven  said :  “And  God  shall  wipe  away 
all  tears  from  their  eyes  and  death  shall  be  no  more. 

Nor  mourning,  nor  crying,  nor  sorrow  shall  be  any  more ; 
for  the  former  things  are  passed  away”  (Apoc.  21,  4). 
The  former  things  are  human  limitations,  earth’s  draw¬ 
backs.  For  instance  we  lead  lives  of  mind  and  sense. 


HEAVEN 


15 


And  mind  and  sense  are  constantly  coming  into  conflict. 
In  Heaven  the  senses  will  be  glorified  and  the  mind  erv 
lightened.  All  human  knowledge  is  limited.  The  knowl¬ 
edge  enjoyed  in  Heaven  will  be  a  full  knowledge.  The 
mind  will  receive  all  it  can  hold  and  that  means  complete 
satisfaction.  The  will  loving  God  and  everything  in  God 
will  have  the  perfection  of  love  that  on  earth  was  impos¬ 
sible  of  attainment. 

When  Saint  John  and  Saint  Paul  try  to  outline  Heaven 
for  us  words  fail  them.  When  the  saints  who  have  been 
given  special  favors  by  God  attempt  to  describe  Heaven 
they  speak  like  halting  children.  About  the  best  descrip¬ 
tion  ever  written  is  the  statement  of  Saint  Paul  that 
Heaven  defies  description :  “Eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear 
heard,  nor  hath  it  entered  into  the  heart  of  man  to  con¬ 
ceive”  the  happiness  that  God  has  prepared  for  those  who 
love  Him  and  die  in  His  love.  There  is  one  little  scene 
in  the  life  of  our  Lord  that  makes  a  bit  clear  what  it 
means  to  see  God  in  Glory.  It  is  the  vision  on  Tabor. 
When  our  blessed  Saviour  flashed  out  His  divinity  for 
one  instant  the  Apostles  were  so  beside  themselves  with 
happiness  that  Saint  Peter  wanted  to  stay  on  the  mountain 
always.  It  was  the  cry  of  a  soul  for  the  happiness  of 
Heaven  after  experiencing  the  slightest  foretaste  and 
faintest  vision  of  what  God  has  in  store  for  His  elect. 


HELL 


S  the  hope  of  Heaven  is  a  good  supernatural  motive 


^  ^  that  inspires  us  to  live  practical  Catholic  lives,  so  is 
the  fear  of  Hell  a  worthy  supernatural  motive  to  deter  us 
from  sin.  Indeed  our  Lord  in  explaining  everlasting 
suffering  told  His  listeners  to  fear  it.  It  is  about  the  only 
thing  He  mentioned  that  was  worth  fearing.  His  con¬ 
stant  appeal  was  to  love.  He  was  ceaseless  in  urging 
the  love  of  the.  Father.  His  entire  doctrine  was  an 
appeal  to  love  for  He  came  to  introduce  the  Law  of 
Love  after  the  world  had  lived  for  centuries  under  the 
Law  of  Fear. 

Nevertheless  He  insisted  that  we  should  be  fearful  of 
incurring  God’s  wrath  that  finds  its  full  expression  in 
eternal  punishment.  One  day  he  was  predicting  the  ter¬ 
rible  sufferings  that  would  fall  to  the  lot  of  His  followers. 
They  would  be  persecuted  and  tortured  and  many  of  them 
put  to  death.  Their  very  own  would  turn  against  them. 
Yet  He  said  these  things  were  not  to  be  feared  but  rather 
He  was  to  be  feared  who  in  His  eternal  justice  could  send 
body  and  soul  into  the  flames  of  Hell.  Again  when  He 
spoke  of  the  sin  of  scandal  He  warned  His  followers  that 
it  was  better  to  go  into  eternity  crippled  and  mutilated 
than  to  go  whole  into  Hell  fire.  “If  your  hand  scandalizes 
you,  cut  it  off.”  That  is  to  say  any  pain  or  torture  in  this 
life  is  better  than  the  sufferings  of  eternity,  and  provided 
we  fear  eternal  torments  we  may  well  scout  any  pains 
that  this  world  knows  of. 

While  He  was  ever  the  loving  Saviour  He  ipoke  most 


i« 


HELL 


17 


clearly  of  God’s  justice  meting  out  eternal  punishment  to 
those  who  died  defying  His  law.  His  explanation  of  the 
doctrine  of  eternal  punishment  is  as  clear  as  His  statement 
that  He  would  give  His  Flesh  and  Blood  to  be  the  food 
and  drink  of  human  souls.  Anyone  reading  His  account 
of  Dives  and  Lazarus  cannot  fail  to  grasp  this  very  real 
doctrine  of  eternal  suffering.  The  circumstances  sur¬ 
rounding  the  parable  of  the  rich  man  and  the  beggar  are 
of  interest.  Our  Lord  was  striving  to  reach  the  hearts  of 
the  scribes  and  pharisees.  But  they  were  closed  to  His 
words  for  the  very  simple  reason  that  they  were  hypo¬ 
crites.  Christ  told  them  so.  In  stinging  terms  He  ex¬ 
posed  their  insincerity  and  then  began  to  show  what  the 
fate  of  the  hypocrite  would  be. 

In  His  parable  He  took  a  man  of  great  wealth  who 
made  gold  his  god.  He  had  everything  this  world  could 
give  and  it  so  hardened  his  heart  that  he  lost  not  only  a 
sense  df  the  divine  but  even  a  sense  of  the  human.  He 
was  so  utterly  selfish  that  he  could  pass  by  a  starving  dis¬ 
eased  beggar  on  his  doorstep  day  after  day  and  not  give 
him  a  crumb  of  bread.  Even  the  dogs  of  the  street  were 
more  humane  for  they  sensed  suffering  in  open  sores  and 
relieved  it  in  their  brute  way.  They  soothed  the  sores  of 
Lazarus  with  their  tongues.  But  not  Dives.  He  ignored 
a  fellow  creature  who  asked  for  so  little;  just  the  crumbs 
that  might  fall  from  his  table  and  be  swept  off  as  waste. 
Dives  was  the  hardened  criminal,  the  selfish  hypocrite,  the 
unrepentant  sinner,  though  because  of  his  wealth  he  may 
have  enjoyed  a  very  good  reputation.  But  Christ  gave 
him  his  true  reputation  for  Christ  knew  his  character. 
And  when  death  came  to  him  Christ  said :  “He  was  buried 
in  Hell.” 

And  looking  up  from  his  place  of  torment  for  the 


18 


AFTER  DEATH— WHAT? 


first  time  he  recognized  Lazarus.  He  saw  the  beggar 
man  in  glory.  He  had  seen  him  in  poverty  and  suffering 
while  they  were  both  pilgrimaging  through  life.  Dives 
was  walking  the  path  of  luxury,  Lazarus  treading  the  road 
of  pain.  So  the  rich  man  never  recognized  the  suffering 
beggar.  But  in  his  place  of  torment  he  did.  And  recog¬ 
nizing  him  he  begged  him  for  a  favor.  What  was  it?  To 
dip  the  end  of  his  finger  in  water  and  place  it  upon  the 
rich  man’s  tongue,  for  he  said :  “I  am  tormented  in  this 
flame.” 

The  suffering  must  have  been  extreme  for  the  man’s 
idea  of  relief  was  just  enough  water  to  place  on  the  finger 
tip,  so  little  that  it  would  evaporate  almost  instantly  on  a 
summer  day.  Yet  it  spelled  relief  so  great  was  the  agony 
endured  in  eternal  flame.  Whatever  the  nature  of  that 
flame  it  is  clear  that  it  had  all  the  terrible  qualities  of 
earthly  fire  for  it  was  consuming  Dives  with  an  agonizing 
thirst.  .  • 

in  explaining  the  pains  of  Hell  the  Church  teaches  us 
that  the  fire  is  real.  It  is  not  a  figure  of  speech.  It  is  not 
an  exaggeration.  It  is  strict  truth.  Remember  it  was  a 
gentle  Saviour  who  speaking  of  the  condemnation  of  the 
unrepentant  on  the  Last  Day  said:  “Depart  from  Me  ye 
cursed  into  everlasting  fire  which  was  prepared  for  the 
devil  and  his  angels.”  As  He  was  Eternal  Truth  it  is  rea¬ 
sonable  to  suppose  that  He  meant  what  He  said.  And 
again  when  He  spoke  of  removing  the  occasions  of  sin 
even  to  the  extent  of  losing  eye  or  hand  or  foot.  He  de¬ 
clared  three  separate  times  that  this  loss  was  better  than 
going  to  “hell  into  unquenchable  fire  where  their  worm 
dieth  not  and  the  fire  is  not  extinguished”  (Mark  9,  42- 
47). 

The  Catholic  Church  has  followed  the  teaching  of  our 


HELL 


19 


Lord  in  defining  the  doctrine  of  eternal  punishment.  The 
Fourth  Lateran  Council  decreed : 

The  wicked  with  the  devil  will  receive  eternal  pun¬ 
ishment  while  the  good  with  Christ  will  receive  eternal 
glory.”  In  fact  not  only  our  Lord’s  sacred  words  warrant 
the  Church  in  her  attitude  but  Scripture  in  many  places 
warns  men  of  God’s  retribution.  To  cite  but  a  few  pas¬ 
sages  in  the  New  Testament,  we  hear  Saint  Jude  talking 
of  “the  punishment  of  eternal  fire”  (Jude  1,  7).  Saint  John 
speaks  of  “a  pool  burning  with  fire  and  brimstone”  (Apoc. 
21,  8).  Saint  Paul  mentions  “eternal  punishment  in  de¬ 
struction”  (2  Thess.  1,  9). 

The  Fathers  of  the  Church  from  the  days  of  Saint 
Ignatius  of  Antioch  have  spoken  plainly  of  Hell.  When 
this  saintly  bishop  was  writing  to  the  Ephesians  he  de¬ 
clared  that  “if  a  man  by  false  teaching  corrupt  the  faith  of 
God,  for  the  sake  of  which  Jesus  Christ  was  crucified, 
such  a  man  shall  go  ...  to  the  unquenchable  fire  as  also 
shall  he  who  listens  to  hipi”  (Ad  Ephes.  16,  2).  Saint 
Justin,  Martyr,  appeals  to  God’s  justice  saying  that  if  there 
is  no  Hell,  “either  there  is  no  God,  or  if  there  is  He  does 
not  concern  Himself  with  men,  virtue  and  vice  mean 
nothing,  and  they  who  transgress  important  laws  are  pun¬ 
ished  unjustly  by  the  lawgivers”  (Apoc.  2,  9).  And 
Saint  John  Chrysostom  is  even  stronger  in  his  assertion 
that:  “All  of  us,  Greeks  and  Jews,  heretics  and  Christians 
acknowledge  that  God  is  just.  Now  many  who  sinned 
passed  away  without  being  punished,  while  many  others 
who  led  virtuous  lives  did  not  die  until  they  had  suffered 
innumerable  tribulations.  If  God  is  just  how  will  He 
reward  the  latter  and  punish  the  former  unless  there 
be  a  Hell  and  a  Resurrection?”  (Homily  on  Ep.  ad 
Phil.  6,  6.) 


20 


AFTER  DEATH— WHAT? 


The  Punishment  of  Hell 

The  nature  of  the  punishment  of  Hell  has  never  been 
Hefined  by  the  Qiurch.  Theologians,  however,  have  dis¬ 
cussed  it  at  some  length.  As  we  know  from  our  cate¬ 
chisms  there  is  the  pain  of  loss  and  the  pain  of  sense.  The 
pain  of  loss  is  the  more  intense  and  the  more  terrible  suf¬ 
fering.  In  losing  God  the  soul  loses  everything.  Saint 
Thomas  very  clearly  explains  the  reason  of  this  twofold 
nain : 

“Punishment  is  proportionate  to  sin.  Now  sin  com- 
nrises  two  things.  First  there  is  the  turning  away  from 
the  immutable  good,  which  is  infinite.  Secondly  there  is 
the  inordinate  turning  to  mutable  good.  In  this  respect 
sin  is  finite,  both  because  the  mutable  good  itself  is  finite 
and  because  the  movement  of  turning  towards  it  is  finite, 
since  the  acts  of  a  creature  cannot  be  infinite.  Accord¬ 
ingly  in  so  far  as  sin  consists  in  turning  away  from  God, 
its  corresponding  punishment  is  the  pain  of  loss,  which 
also  is  infinite  because  it  is  the  loss  of  the  infinite  good, 
that  is  God.  But  in  so  far  as  sin  turns  inordinately  (to 
the  mutable  good)  its  corresponding  punishment  is  the 
pain  of  sense  which  also  is  finite’*  (Summa  Theologica,  la 
Q.  87). 

The  pain  of  loss  consists  in  realizing  that  through  its 
own  fault  the  soul  has  lost  the  whole  purpose  of  its  be¬ 
ing.  It  is  a  complete  failure.  In  this  life  we  talk  of  peo¬ 
ple  who  are  failures  but  we  do  not  know  what  real  failure 
means.  The  loss  of  God  by  the  damned  soul  is  the  only 
real  failure.  For  this  can  never  be  remedied.  Every  loss 
in  life  can  be  remedied  if  by  nothing  else  by  a  good  death. 
But  the  lost  soul  is  a  total  loss,  the  failure  to  find  God  for 
all  eternity  is  complete  failure.  “Abandon  hope  all  ye 
who  enter  here !” 


HELL 


21 


When  our  blessed  Saviour  cried  out  to  the  lost  souls, 
“Depart  from  Me  ye  cursed !“  He  meant  what  He  said. 
The  soul  that  has  lost  God  has  indeed  God’s  curse  upon  it. 
Again  when  He  speaks  of  the  unrepentant  sinners  He 
tells  them:  “I  know  you  not,  whence  you  are;  depart  from 
Me  all  ye  workers  of  iniquity.  There  shall  be  weeping 
and  gnashing  of  teeth,  when  you  shall  see  Abraham  and 
Isaac  and  Jacob  and  all  the  prophets  in  the  kingdom  of 
God  and  you  yourselves  thrust  out”  (Luke  13,  27).  The 
souls  He  created  and  for  whom  He  shed  His  Precious 
Blood,  He  no  longer  knows.  They  are  as  if  they  were 
not.  He  has  done  His  best  to  save  them  and  they  have 
scorned  His  every  act  of  love.  They  realize  this  as  it 
never  can  be  realized  on  earth,  and  that  realization  makes 
Hell.  It  is  the  pain  of  loss. 

Saint  John  Chrysostom  in  pK)rtraying  the  pain  of  loss 
does  not  minimize  the  pain  of  sense.  But  he  shows  how 
trivial  it  is  in  comparison  with  the  greater  pain.  In  his 
homily  on  the  Gospel  of  Saint  Matthew,  23,  n.  8,  he  says : 
“The  fire  of  Hell  is  insupportable — who  does  not  know 
it  ? — ^and  its  torments  are  awful.  But  if  you  were  to  heap 
a  thousand  hell-fires  one  on  top  of  the  other,  it  would  be 
as  nothing  compared  to  the  punishment  of  being  excluded 
from  the  beatific  glory  of  Heaven,  hated  by  Christ  and 
compelled  to  hear  Him  say,  T  know  you  not.’  ” 

Because  of  the  realization  of  the  loss  that  is  theirs  the 
damned  hate  God,  themselves,  and  every  other  creature. 
Hell  is  the  home  of  hate.  Here  in  this  life  we  often  are 
puzzled  by  meeting  a  good  man  who  has  apparently  little 
or  no  love  for  God.  He  is  naturally  good.  He  is  a  fond 
parent,  a  devoted  husband,  fair  and  square  in  his  dealings 
with  his  fellows.  Yet  he  will  tell  you  he  has  no  interest 
in  God.  He  will  keep  the  Golden  Rule  and  that  will  suf* 


22 


AFTER  DEATH— WHAT? 


fice  for  his  religion.  When  his  time  to  die  comes  he  may 
get  the  grace  to  make  an  act  of  perfect  contrition.  But 
the  fact  is  he  has  not  hated  God,  he  has  ignored  Him. 
And  God  has  left  the  spark  of  natural  goodness  in  his  soul 
in  the  hope  that  it  may  flame  up  toward  the  supernatural. 
He  is  still  on  his  way  but  when  his  journey  is  ended  he 
must  either  love  or  hate  God.  His  natural  will  as  a  gift  of 
God  is  good,  but  it  cannot  will  good  in  Hell.  If  it  does, 
it  wills  in  the  wrong  way,  if  it  does  not,  it  wills  bad. 
Saint  Thomas  tells  us  why : 

“The  damned  are  absolutely  turned  away  from  the  final 
end  of  the  rightly  directed  will.  The  will  cannot  be  good 
except  it  be  ordered  to  that  end,  so  that  even  if  the  damned 
willed  something  good  they  would  not  will  it  in  the  right 
way,  that  is  so  that  their  will  might  be  called  good”  (Com¬ 
ment.  in  Sent.  4,  dist.  50,  qu.  2.,  art.  1). 

The  pain  of  sense  according  to  Catholic  teaching  is  the 
pain  caused  by  a  sensible  medium.  This  medium  is  called 
in  Scripture  fire.  The  Church  has  never  said  in  a  dog¬ 
matic  definition  anything  about  the  nature  of  this  fire. 
The  Church  has  said  that  it  is  real,  and  not  a  metaphor. 
It  is  something  created  by  God  to  punish  as  adequately  as 
unrepented  sin  can  be  punished.  As  fire  is  the  most  in¬ 
tense  form  of  human  punishment  this  word  as  employed 
by  the  sacred  writers  and  by  our  Lord  Himself  gives  us 
as  complete  an  idea  as  we  are  capable  of  getting  of  the  in¬ 
tensity  of  eternal  punishment.  When  we  think  on  the 
scriptural  expressions  “furnace  of  fire,”  “pool  of  fire  and 
brimstone,”  “external  darkness  where  there  is  howling  and 
gnashing  of  teeth,”  “eternal  fire,”  our  imaginations  en¬ 
vision  the  idea  of  terrific  punishment.  Had  our  blessed 
Saviour  told  us  the  nature  of  this  fire,  or  put  its  meaning 
on  the  lips  of  the  inspired  writers,  we  would  not  have 


HELL 


2S 


understood  it.  We  could  no  more  fully  understand  the 
nature  of  eternal  punishment  than  we  can  understand  the 
Beatific  Vision.  We  can  fully  understand,  however,  the 
need  of  avoiding  Hell  as  we  can  understand  the  wisdom 
of  gaining  Heaven.  This  is  the  practical  understanding 
that  God  asks  of  us. 

Besides  the  pain  of  loss  and  the  pain  of  sense  there  are 
other  sufferings  endured  by  the  lost  soul.  Remorse  for 
instance  which  Scripture  compares  to  a  worm  that  will 
never  die.  So  the  poet  expressed  the  pangs  of  natural  sor¬ 
row.  The  recollection  of  happier  days.  Fancy  then  the 
soul  recalling  the  graces  myriad  in  number  that  marked 
its  progress  through  life.  Baptism,  Confirmation,  First 
Communion,  the  Sacrament  of  Penance,  the  prayers,  the 
devotions  of  the  Church,  all  sting  now  like  scorpions  in 
the  bitter  recollection  of  abused  graces.  “We  fools,”  cry 
the  damned  for  the  endless  ages  of  eternity.  Salvation 
was  so  easy  yet  they  would  not  take  it.  A  little  self-con¬ 
trol,  a  little  self-sacrifice,  a  little  mortification  and  in  re^ 
ward  everlasting  happiness.  But  no.  The  human  will 
was  so  weak  and  human  nature  so  strange  that  there  was 
time  for  every  sacrifice  but  self-sacrifice.  For  reputation, 
for  self-interest  in  temporal  affairs,  for  pleasing  -false 
friends,  for  gratifying  the  soul’s  enemies  there  was  always 
time.  For  pleasure  that  ended  in  a  few  hours,  for  busi¬ 
ness  that  occupied  a  few  years,  for  money  that  served  for 
the  moment  there  was  time.  But  not  time  in  life  for  God ! 
And  now  in  the  eternity  of  Hell  there  is  neither  time  nor 
God,  neither  pleasure  nor  amusement,  nothing  but  suffer¬ 
ing,  sorrow,  disappointment.  The  remembrance  of  how 
easy  salvation  could  have  been !  This  is  a  bitter  sorrow. 
And  yet  it  is  the  least  of  the  sorrows  of  the  damned  1 


24 


AFTER  DEATH— WHAT? 


The  Eternity  of  Hell 

It  is  an  article  of  Faith  that  Hell  is  eternal.  It  was 
defined  in  the  Council  of  Constantinople  in  the  year  543. 
The  Fifth  General  Council  approved  this  definition  ten 
years  later.  This  belief  is  contained  in  the  Athanasian 
Creed:  “They  that  have  done  good  shall  go  into  everlast¬ 
ing  happiness,  and  they  that  have  done  evil  into  everlast¬ 
ing  fire.”  The  New  Testament  when  it  speaks  of  the  fire 
of  Hell  calls  it  everlasting.  The  Fathers  of  the  Church 
speak  in  the  same  vein.  “You  threaten  me  with  fire,” 
Saint  Polycarp  told  his  persecutors,  “which  burns  but  for 
an  hour  and  then  is  extinguished;  for  you  do  not  know 
the  eternal  fire  of  punishment  reserved  for  the  wicked.” 

And  from  the  standpoint  of  common  sense  there  is  no 
more  reason  for  Hell’s  punishment  ceasing  than  there  is 
for  the  happiness  of  Heaven  ceasing.  God’s  justice  gov¬ 
erns  both  reward  and  punishment.  If  as  we  have  seen 
Heaven  would  not  be  Heaven  unless  happiness  was  ever¬ 
lasting  then  surely  there  would  be  no  Hell  without  eternity 
characterizing  its  punishment.  To  many  people  the  idea 
of  eternal  punishment  is  abhorrent.  It  clashes  they  say 
with  the  idea  of  God’s  mercy.  But  they  forget  that  God  is 
just  and  Hell  is  the  vindication  of  His  justice.  He  would 
not  be  God  if  He  were  not  just,  and  if  He  did  not  punish 
as  He  rewards.  His  mercy  is  infinite  and  it  struggles  with 
the  rebellious  soul  up  to  the  last  breath  of  life.  When 
the  last  instant  of  reckoning  comes  God  does  not  say:  “I 
condemn  the  soul  I  have  created  and  loved  and  died  for  to 
Hell.”  No.  But  the  soul  says:  “In  spite  of  all  God  has 
done  for  me  I  refuse  to  do  the  right  and  in  my  foolish 
fury  take  the  consequences  of  His  v  'ath.”  Against  every 
effort  the  soul  plunges  into  Hell. 


HELL 


25 


Eternal  Punishment  in  Sacred  Scripture 

And  many  of  those  that  sleep  in  the  dust  of  the  earth 
shall  awake;  some  unto  life  everlasting  and  others  unto 
reproach  to  see  it  always.  (Daniel  12,  2.) 

Which  of  you  can  dwell  with  devouring  fire?  .  .  . 
Which  of  you  shall  dwell  with  everlasting  burnings? 
(Isaias  33,  14.) 

And  they  shall  fall  after  this  without  honor,  and  be  a 
reproach  among  the  dead  forever.  (Wisdom  4,  19.) 

A  land  of  misery  and  darkness  where  the  shadow  of 
death  and  no  order,  but  everlasting  horror  dwelleth.  (Job 
10,  22.) 

The  Lord  Almighty  will  take  revenge  on  them,  in  the 
day  of  judgment  He  will  visit  them.  For  He  will  give 
fire  and  worms  into  their  flesh,  that  they  may  burn  and 
feel  forever.  (Judith  16,  20,  21.) 

The  chaff  He  will  burn  with  unquenchable  fire.  (Luke 
3,  17.) 

And  these  shall  go  into  everlasting  punishment,  but 
the  just  into  life  everlasting.  (Matthew  25,  46.) 

And  if  thy  hand  scandalize  thee  cut  it  off ;  it  is  better 
for  thee  to  enter  into  life  maimed  than  having  two  hands 
to  go  into  hell,  into  unquenchable  fire,  where  their  worm 
dieth  not  and  the  fire  is  not  extinguished.  (Mark  9, 
42,  43.) 


PURGATORY 


'^HOSE  who  die  in  venial  sin  cannot  see  God  at  once. 

This  is  reasonable.  As  they  do  not  deserve  eternal 
punishment  they  pass  into  an  intermediate  state  that  we 
call  Purgatory.  Here  the  last  blemish  left  by  sin  is  re¬ 
moved  and  the  soul  then  wings  its  flight  into  God’s  pres¬ 
ence.  Again  there  are  those  who  die  and  have  not  paid 
the  temporal  punishment  for  mortal  sin  repented  of  in 
this  life.  There  was  not  time  or  there  was  not  the  gener¬ 
osity  requisite  for  performing  the  necessary  penance.  The 
penalty  for  mortal  and  for  venial  sins  not  paid  for  in  this 
life  is  a  debt  on  the  soul.  It  must  be  paid  for  in  all  jus¬ 
tice.  As  the  soul  has  passed  beyond  the  time  of  merit  it 
must  suffer  in  Purgatory  till  the  dross  of  sin  is  removed. 
It  can  do  nothing  but  suffer.  This  is  the  meaning  of  Pur¬ 
gatory,  a  state  of  punishment  and  purification. 

The  Church  in  teaching  the  doctrine  of  Purgatory  re¬ 
fers  her  children  to  many  passages  in  Holy  Writ.  The 
best  known  scriptural  foundation  for  the  doctrine  is  found 
in  the  Second  Book  of  Machabees.  It  tells  of  the  deeds 
of  Judas  Machabeus  and  mentions  his  devotion  to  the 
dead.  And  we  must  remember  that  this  devotion  was  the 
common  practice  of  his  people  as  it  is  of  the  Catholic 
Church  today.  After  battle  it  is  stated  that  the  leader  of 
the  hosts  of  Israel  collected  alms.  “And  making  a  gath¬ 
ering  he  sent  twelve  thousand  drachms  of  silver  to  Jeru¬ 
salem  for  sacrifice  to  be  offered  for  the  sins  of  the  dead, 
thinking  well  and  religiously  concerning  the  resurrection. 
(For  if  he  had  not  hoped  that  they  that  were  slain  should 
rise  again  it  would  have  seemed  superfluous  and  vain  to 
pray  for  the  dead.)  And  because  he  considered  that  they 

26 


PURGATORY 


27 


who  had  fallen  asleep  with  godliness  had  great  grace  laid 
up  for  them.  It  is  therefore  a  holy  and  wholesome  thought 
to  pray  for  the  dead  that  they  may  be  loosed  from  sins" 
(2  Mach.  12,  43-46). 

It  is  plain  that  the  belief  of  the  leader  of  the  Jews 
and  of  his  people  recorded  with  approbation  by  the  sa¬ 
cred  writer  was  that  there  was  punishment  for  sin  in  the 
next  world  and  that  this  punishment  could  be  mitigated 
by  the  prayers  of  the  living.  This  is  what  the  Church 
teaches  on  Purgatory. 

There  is  also  a  text  in  Saint  Paul’s  first  letter  to  the 
Corinthians  that  Saint  Augustine  appeals  to  in  explaining 
the  doctrine  of  Purgatory.  The  Apostle  was  writing  of 
the  solid  foundation  of  the  doctrine  of  Christ :  “For  other 
foundation  no  man  can  lay  but  that  which  is  laid ;  which  is 
Christ  Jesus.  Now  if  any  man  build  upon  this  founda¬ 
tion  gold,  silver,  precious  stones,  wood,  hay,  stubble. 
Every  man’s  work  shall  be  manifest;  for  the  day  of  the 
Lord  shall  declare  it  because  it  shall  be  revealed  in  fire; 
and  the  fire  shall  declare  every  man’s  work  what  sort  it  is. 
If  any  man’s  work  abide  which  he  hath  built  thereupon 
he  shall  receive  a  reward.  If  any  man’s  work  burn  he 
shall  suffer  loss ;  but  he  himself  shall  be  saved  yet  so  as 
by  fire’’  (1  Cor.  3,  11-15). 

Saint  Augustine  and  other  Fathers  hold  in  explanation 
of  this  passage  that  useless  doctrines  are  not  to  be  mingled 
with  the  solid  rock  of  Christ’s  doctrine.  They  are  wood, 
hay,  stubble.  In  the  fire  test  the  real  foundation  will  re¬ 
main  and  everything  else,  venial  sins  not  mortal  will  be 
consumed  by  fire.  It  is  the  Pauline  doctrine  that  a  soul 
may  be  saved  and  yet  suffer  temporal  punishment  in  the 
hereafter.  What  Saint  Paul  taught  has  been  consistently 
held  as  Catholic  doctrine  from  earliest  times. 


28 


AFTER  DEATH— WHAT? 


The  Sufferings  of  Purgatory 

* 

The  souls  in  Purgatory  suffer  a  twofold  pain,  the  pain 
of  loss  and  the  pain  of  sense.  The  pain  of  loss  consists  in 
being  deprived  of  the  vision  of  God  which  is  the  essential 
happiness  of  Heaven.  For  a  brief  instant  at  the  particular 
judgment  the  soul  has  seen  God.  That  vision  has  filled 
it  with  longing.  Nothing  else  matters.  Life  and  its  dis¬ 
tractions  are  passed.  It  is  now  God  or  nothing.  As  the 
possession  of  God  is  the  great  happiness  of  Heaven,  the 
loss  of  God  the  great  pain  of  Hell,  so  is  the  loss  of  God 
even  though  the  soul  knows  it  is  but  for  a  time,  the  all¬ 
piercing  pain  of  Purgatory.  There  is  too  the  other  suffer¬ 
ing  called  the  pain  of  sense.  Saint  Thomas  teaches  the 
twofold  pain  as  follows: 

“In  Purgatory  the  suffering  is  twofold;  that  of  loss 
inasmuch  as  the  soul  is  kept  back  from  the  vision  of  God ; 
and  that  of  sense  since  they  shall  be  punished  by  fire. 
Now  in  both  respects  the  least  pain  in  Purgatory  exceeds 
the  greatest  pain  in  this  life.” 

This  is  the  common  teaching  of  the  Church.  The  na¬ 
ture  of  the  pain  of  sense  has  never  been  defined.  Its  real¬ 
ity  has  never  been  doubted.  Most  theologians  hold  that  it 
is  the  pain  of  fire.  What  is  said  of  the  fire  of  Hell  is  true 
of  the  fire  of  Purgatory,  duration  alone  making  them  dif¬ 
ferent.  It  is  real.  And  while  we  cannot  tell  its  constitu¬ 
ents  as  we  can  the  constituents  of  earthly  fire,  it  has  all  the 
fearful  effects  that  make  earthly  fire  the  all-terrible  pain. 
Its  duration  of  course  is  limited  by  time.  The  Last  Day 
will  see  only  Heaven  and  Hell.  From  the  practice  of  the 
Church  in  encouraging  prayers  for  the  dead  without  ceas¬ 
ing  we  may  conclude  that  the  punishment  in  Purgatory 
lasts  a  long  time.  Or  it  may  be  that  God  crowds  into  a 


PURGATORY 


29 

*  brief  space  of  earthly  time  centuries  of  purg’atorial  suf¬ 
fering.  No  one  can  say  for  no  one  knows.  But  what  is 
clear  from  the  tradition  of  the  Church  is  that  souls  suf¬ 
fer  in  Purgatory  till  the  last  debt  of  the  temporal  pun¬ 
ishment  due  for  sin  is  paid.  Till  then  the  soul  cannot 
see  God  and  enjoy  the  happiness  of  Heaven. 

As  the  Church  teaches  the  doctrine  of  Purgatory  so 
does  she  point  the  way  to  relief  for  the  Suffering  Souls. 
The  prayers  and  good  works  of  the  members  of  the  King¬ 
dom  of  God  on  earth  bring  relief  to  Christ’s  suffering 
members  in  Purgatory.  As  their  time  of  merit  is  over 
they  must  rely  on  their  friends  to  assist  them.  “Have  pity 
on  me  at  least  you  my  friends  for  the  hand  of  the  Lord 
hath  afflicted  me.”  This  is  their  prayer.  And  it  is  one  of 
the  consolations  of  our  religion  to  know  that  our  least 
good  work,  our  shortest  prayer,  our  slightest  mortifica¬ 
tion,  and  above  all  the  Holy  Sacrifice  and  Holy  Commun¬ 
ion,  can  reach  across  the  barriers  of  time,  and  render  help 
to  the  Suffering  Souls. 

The  indulgenced  prayers  of  the  Church  are  especially 
intended  for  the  relief  of  the  Souls  in  Purgatory.  An  in¬ 
dulgenced  prayer  is  one  whose  value  is  written  in  terms 
of  remission  of  temporal  punishment  due  for  sin.  The 
Church  by  drawing  on  the  superabundant  merits  of  Christ, 
the  merits  of  our  Blessed  Mother  and  the  saints  gives  spe¬ 
cial  efficacy  to  an  indulgenced  prayer.  This  prayer  she 
tells  us  to  apply  to  the  Souls  in  Purgatory  and  not  only 
for  all  the  souls  lingering  there  but  for  the  particular  soul 
we  have  in  mind.  The  Church  in  so  doing  draws  on  her 
treasury  of  good  works  accumulated  during  the  ages. 
With  this  great  wealth  at  her  disposal  the  Church  enhances 
the  value  of  our  poor  prayers. 

“Lay  this  body  anywhere,  my  son,  but  wherever  you 


30 


AFTER  DEATH— WHAT? 


may  be,  pray  for  my  soul  at  God’s  AJtar,”  was  Monica’s 
last  request  of  Augustine.  In  the  grief  of  his  great  soul 
Augustine  never  forgot  his  mother’s  wish.  That  is  the 
Catholic  spirit.  We  love  our  dead  for  we  know  they  live. 
We  wish  to  speed  their  living  close  to  God  and  in  the  offi¬ 
cial  prayer  of  the  Church  or  in  our  own  simple  words  we 
ask  God  to  be  mindful  of  those  “who  have  gone  before  us 
with  the  sign  of  Faith,  and  sleep  in  the  sleep  of  peace.  O 
most  merciful  Lord  Jesus  give  unto  them  eternal  rest.’’ 

DISCUSSION  CLUB  OUTLINE 

Prepared  by  Rev.  Gerald  C.  Treacy,  S.J. 

I 

We  know  the  other  world  is  real  because  the  Infallible  Church 
teaches  us  this.  The  other  world  has  two  eternal  divisions,  Heaven 
and  Hell,  and  one  temporary.  This  is  God’s  revelation.  Frequently 
our  Lord  spoke  of  Heaven.  It  is  a  state  of  unending  happiness  and 
the  place  where  God  dwells  with  His  angels  and  saints  (1). 

Not  only  Catholics  but  all  sensible  people  who  know  that  the 
soul  will  last  forever  believe  in  Heaven.  It  is  reasonable  to  believe 
this  because  every  one  knows  he  cannot  get  complete  happiness  in 
this  life,  yet  he  wants  it  with  all  his  desires.  God  has  given  him 
the  desire,  so  He  will  fulfill  it.  The  fulfillment  of  all  desires  is 
Heaven.  Heaven  is  also  the  reward  of  a  good  life  on  earth.  Our 
Lord  teaches  this  in  promising  “a  reward  everlasting”  for  the  act  of 
charity  (2). 

There  are  many  opinions  about  Heaven’s  location,  but  the  truth 
is  we  do  not  know  where  Heaven  is.  The  real  thing  to  know  is 
that  Heaven  is  happiness.  From  St.  John’s  teaching  it  may  be  gath¬ 
ered  that  after  the  Last  Judgment  this  earth  will  be  Heaven.  It  will 
be  “a  new  earth”  (3). 

From  the  statements  of  St.  Peter  and  others  this  earth  will  be 
renewed  by  fire  at  our  Lord’s  second  coming,  and  then  it  will  be 
Heaven  for  the  just.  Not  only  Christian  but  pagan  writers  claimed 
that  the  earth  would  be  destroyed  and  then  renewed  by  fire  (4,  5). 

If  this  earth  renewed  and  purified  is  to  be  the  home  of  the  blessed 
at  the  end  of  the  world  it  will  be  wonderfully  beautiful.  The  real 
happiness  of  Heaven  consists  in  seeing  and  enjoying  God  as  He  is 
This  is  called  the  Beatific  Vision  and  it  is  seen  only  because  God 
gives  man  the  power  to  see  through  grace.  No  natural  sight  could 
reach  God  (6,  7). 


DISCUSSION  CLUB  OUTLINE 


31 


Questions 

Is  the  other  world  real? 

What  are  its  three  divisions? 

Do  only  Catholics  believe  in  Heaven? 
What  is  Heaven  a  reward  for? 

Where  is  Heaven? 

What  is  the  Beatific  Vision  ? 


II 

God  cannot  be  comprehended  by  a  human  mind,  but  He  can  be 
reached.  St.  Thomas  explains  that.  This  reaching  of  God  by  man  is 
a  mystery,  but  we  can  learn  something  about  it.  The  blessed  in 
Heaven  see  and  know  God  in  a  way  that  is  different  from  any  sight 
or  knowledge  on  earth  (8,  9). 

The  soul  in  Heaven  receives  special  gifts.  These  constitute  its 
dowry.  The  body  after  the  general  resurrection  will  have  its  special 
gifts  too.  Another  source  of  Heaven’s  happiness  is  freedom  from 
sin  or  even  the  inclination  to  sin.  Still  another  is  freedom  from 
ignorance  (10,  11). 

The  happiness  of  Heaven  lasts  forever.  This  truth  is  an  article 
of  faith.  Moreover  thene  are  different  degrees  of  happiness  for  each 
one  and  yet  each  is  completely  happy.  The  idea  of  completeness 
is  the  nearest  approach  we  can  make  to  understanding  the  happi¬ 
ness  of  Heaven  (12,  IS). 


Questions 

What  does  the  soul  need  in  order  to  see  God? 

May  God  be  comprehended? 

How  may  comprehension  be  understood? 

What  is  the  dowry  of  the  blessed? 

Is  this  dowry  in  the  body  and  the  soul? 

Can  the  blessed  in  Heaven  sin? 

Does  Heaven’s  happiness  ever  end? 

Are  all  equally  happy  or  are  there  degrees  in  happiness? 

If  there  is  inequality  in  happiness  is  their  discontent? 

Ill 

Our  Lord  Who  spoke  of  the  happiness  of  Heaven  also  spoke 
of  the  sufferings  of  Hell.  There  b  nothing  clearer  in  all  Hb  teach¬ 
ing.  The  parable  of  Dives  and  Lazarus,  the  words  of  our  Lord  on 
the  punbhment  for  the  sin  of  scandal  show  that  there  b  real  fire 
of  torment  whatever  the  nature  of  the  fire.  The  supreme  torment 
b  the  loss  of  God.  That  makes  Hell.  Besides  the  pain  of  loss  and 
sense,  there  are  other  sufferings  endured  by  the  lost.  Remorse  for 
opportunities  lost,  remembrance  of  happier  times.  Hell,  like  Heaven, 
b  eternal  (16,  25). 


32 


AFTER  DEATH— WHAT? 


Questions 

What  did  our  Lord  teach  about  Hell? 

Should  we  fear  it? 

What  does  the  parable  of  Dives  and  Lazarus  prove? 

Is  the  fire  of  Hell  real? 

Is  it  like  the  fire  on  earth? 

What  have  the  Fathers  of  the  Church  taught  about  everlasting 
punishment  ? 

What  does  the  Church  teach  regarding  its  nature? 

What  is  the  pain  of  loss,  of  sense? 

Are  there  other  sufferings? 

Does  the  Bible  mention  Hell? 


IV 

Those  who  have  not  atoned  for  sins  committed  in  life  and  yet 
die  In  God’s  grace  cannot  enter  Heaven  at  once.  They  dwell  in 
Purgatory.  The  Church  teaches  this  as  an  article  of  Faith.  Its 
proof  is  found  in  many  parts  of  the  Bible,  and  in  the  writings  of  the 
Fathers  of  the  Church.  The  souls  in  Purgatory  suffer  the  pain  of 
loss  and  of  sense;  they  cannot  help  themselves,  but  we  can  help  them 
by  prayer.  The  indulgenced  prayers  of  the  Church  are  especially 
intended  for  their  relief  (26,  30). 

Questions 

What  is  the  meaning  of  Purgatory? 

What  does  the  Church  teach  about  it? 

Are  its  sufferings  real? 

May  the  suffering  souls  help  themselves? 

How  do  we  help  them? 

What  are  the  prayers  especially  intended  for  their  benefit? 


Imprimi  potest: 


Nihil  obstat: 


Imprimatur: 


New  York,  March  30,  1927. 


Edwaso  C.  Phillips,  S.J., 
Provincial  Maryland-New  York. 

Apthub  J.  Scanlan,  S.T.D., 

Censor  Librorum. 

i3E(  Patrick  Cardinal  Hayks, 
Archiepiscopus  Neo-Eb. 

Copyright,  1927. 


printed  and  published  in  tpb  u.  s.  a. 

BY  THE  PAULIiT  PRESS,  NEW  YORK,  N.  Y. 


Popularized  Editions  of  the 

Great  Social  Encyclicals  .  .  . 

THE  VOICE  OF  THE  VICAR  OF  CHRIST 

SERIES 

Father  Gerald  C.  Treacy,  S.J.,  has  specialized  for  years  in  the 
teaching  of  the  Papal  Encyclicals.  Realizing  the  need  for  simpli¬ 
fied  editions  of  these  great  documents  so  that  their  principles  may 
be  taught  in  the  grammar  grades  he  has  prepared  these  new  pam¬ 
phlets.  He  says  “The  Encyclical  teachings  are  precious  gems  of 
TRUTH  encased  in  the  long  sentences  and  long  paragraphs  of  the 
Latin  language.  The  simplified  edition  places  these  gems  of  God's 
Truth,  in  the  setting  of  another  language.  We  appreciate  the  beauty 
of  the  gem  in  a  familiar  setting,  when  the  reader  has  appreciated 
the  teachings  of  the  Encyclical  in  its  simplified  setting,  he  will  be 
ready  to  turn  to  the  complete  edition  with  interest  and  profit.” 

PRAYING  WITH  CHRIST  (Mediafor  Dei) 

Pope  Pins  XII 

CHRISTIAN  STATE  OR  PAGAN  CHAOS  (Immortale  Dei) 

Pope  Leo  XIII 

LIBERTY— MAN'S  GREATEST  GIFT  (Human  Liberty) 

Pope  Leo  XIII 

HEAVEN'S  BEGINNING  (Mystici  Corporis  Christi) 

Pope  Pins  XII 

LABOR'S  CHARTER  OF  LIBERTY  (Rerum  Novarum) 

Pope  Leo  XIII 

GOD  AND  LIBERTY  AGAINST  SATAN  AND  SLAVERY 

(Divini  Redemptoris)  . 

Pope  Pius  XI 

REBUILDING  SOCIETY'S  SOCIAL  ORDER  (Quadragesimo  Anno) 

Pope  Pius  XI 

LOVE  UNDYING  (Casti  Connubii) 

Pope  Pins  XI 

EDUCATION:  TRUE  OR  FALSE  (Divini  lllius  Mogistri) 

Pope  Pius  XI 

'These  piamphlets  will  be  welcomed  by  the  many  who  have  long 
sought  a  simplified  presentation  of  the  papal  statements  as  well  as 
bv  teachers  who  know  that  an  elementary  knowledge  of  these  prin¬ 
ciples  should  be  taught  in  our  schools.  Questionnaires  are  appended. 

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